British Museum manga exhibition celebrates 30 years of Japanese artform

British Museum celebrates three generations of Japanese mangaIBTimes UK

London's British Museum takes a look at manga, Japan's widely popular graphic art form, in a new exhibition showcasing the works of different generations of artists.

Manga now: three generations features recent and newly-commissioned artwork from Chiba Tetsuya, known for his sports manga, Hoshino Yukinobu, who specialises in science fiction manga and Nakamura Hikaru, known for her comic manga of daily life.

On display are Tetsuya's colour drawing of a young golfer on a green in Fair Isle Lighthouse Keepers Golf Course, Scotland while the work of Yukinobu depicts a newly-created character Rainman in black and white.

Hikaru, the most recent generation of the artists, has on display cover artwork of her Saint Oniisan series which tells a story of Jesus and Buddha as flatmates in Tokyo.

"This exhibition ... introduces manga as it is now. We're looking at three generations of manga artists that are living today," exhibition curator Nicole Rousmaniere said.

"While you won't get a whole history of manga and you won't get a complete encyclopaedic view you will get an accurate feeling for what is happening in Manga right now."

Having developed in the early 20th century, manga is widely popular in Japan and beyond, with millions of copies of manga magazines sold each year.

"Not only is (manga) big business and not only is it entertainment but it's actually part of the fabric of Japanese society and I think actually becoming more so externally in Europe and certainly in America," Rousmaniere said.